Star Wars: Turn Your Phone into a Lightsaber

By Rob Gordon 16 December 2015

With world on the brink of the general release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Google releases a game that turns the player’s phone into a lightsaber.

In case the news of its release has somehow been missed, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is on the cusp of arrival. One of the most highly anticipated films of all time, the latest movie in the massive Star Wars franchise is hitting general release this week. To keep fans of the Force fully in the mood for the movie, a new game has been released that turns the user’s trusty smartphone into a lightsaber.

The game in question is called Lightsaber Escape, and its premise is simple. The player is a Jedi taking on the First Order, and has to escape from the attacks of Storm Troopers. They can do this by moving their phone in order to deflect the blaster shots of the Imperial forces. A trailer showing the game in action can be seen below, or over on YouTube.

The game, which has been released by Google, is described as “an experience built for Chrome,” and can be found by visiting g.co/lightsaber. Although the game has been built for Chrome, however, it also appears to work with other mobile browsers and devices. According to GameSpot, Lightsaber Escape also works with an iPhone 5S using the device’s Safari browser.

It’s been hard to miss the sheer wave of Star Wars content that has been crashing over the media in recent weeks, and the world of video games has been no exception. EA released the DICE-developed Star Wars Battlefront, resurrecting the much-loved multiplayer series just in time for the release of The Force Awakens. EA has not quite had the response it was hoping for, however, with the game receiving middling reviews with criticism over a perceived lack of content.

It’s not just publishers and developers that have gone mad for Star Wars content recently, however, as plenty of fans of the sci-fi phenomenon have been busy creating fan-made love letters to the franchise. One determined Fallout 4 player took the time to create a rather unique settlement, using the design of an AT-AT. Meanwhile, Fallout 4 has also been home to a rather fantastic mod that adds lightsabers into the game.

Although Lightsaber Escape is hardly big on content, it goes to show how much fun a game can be with a simple idea. Meanwhile, it’s unlikely that Star Wars in the world of video games is going to let up any time soon. Let’s just hope that the next EA-published official game tries to bring a level of ingenuity into the series’ video game adaptations.